Better Without Him
by Nutmeg44
Summary: Ginny thought life with Harry was all she needed. Turns out life was better without him.


A/N Written as a gift for **hereticalvision** for Smutty Claus 2013 at the Livejournal community of the same name. For all those waiting patiently for an update to **_Rebirth_**, I promise it's is coming. In the meantime, consider this Blaise/Ginny nugget a peace-offering while you wait. Enjoy and tell me what you think. I enjoy all critique.

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Ginny Weasley was hopping mad. How dare he?! How dare they?! _The Daily Prophet _was supposed to be a reputable newspaper intent on printing the facts, not this, this, salacious gossip. And Zabini of all people, what would he know about her life? It's not as if he had ever spoken to her…ever. What gives him the right to make up rumours about her life with Harry?

She had just arrived at the offices of _The Daily Prophet_ in a raging fury, intent on blasting a hole through Blaise Zabini's skull for his implication that Harry was cheating on her and with Hermione no less. As if either of them would betray her brother or herself in that impertinent manner. Zabini was going to wish he didn't know how to write when she was through with him.

The look of fury must have shown in her eyes because the poor young girl at reception could only blubber and point in the general direction of the third floor when the irate star Chaser of the Holyhead Harpies stormed into the office. Ginny gave the girl a brief nod of thanks before continuing to stomp through the corridors of the newspaper office, scared interns climbing the walls to get out of her way. Seeing the door with 'Blaise Zabini' on the plaque she all but blasted it off its hinges before pointing her wand at the startled ex-Slytherin behind the desk.

"You!" snarled the redhead.

"It wasn't me, I swear," Zabini replied, holding his hands in the air in a faux-placating gesture.

"Of course it was you! You wrote this drivel," Ginny continued, waving the crumpled copy of today's Prophet in the air.

"Oh, that. Well yes, that was me," Zabini went on, nonchalantly, as if there wasn't a mad woman in his office pointing a wand at his head. As if to highlight his disregard for her presence Zabini returned to the scroll of parchment on which he was previously writing.

"I know you wrote it, you arse! I want to know why you would spread such lies about Harry and Hermione? What have they ever done to you?" Ginny had walked across the room and was now towering above the man behind the desk.

"For your information, Tinkerbell, none of it is a lie." Zabini's expression moved from nonchalant to impossibly smug.

"Of course it's a lie!" Ginny's declaration was punctuated by a very animated foot stomp which brought an amused smirk to Zabini's face. She was definitely Tinkerbell brought to life.

"It isn't a lie, because I have proof."

"You couldn't possibly have–-" Her rant was cut off, however, by Zabini rooting around in a drawer on his desk and then dropping a large envelop onto the surface.

"Normally, I wouldn't share the details about my source to anyone but since you have always been exceptionally talented with your wand and I happen to like my head where it is, I will make this one exception. But this information does not leave this office. And Weasley…I'm very sorry."

Scooping up the envelope Ginny began, "What could possibly be your proof," but her words were lost in her throat when she saw the moving photos of a very heated embrace between Harry and Hermione. The kiss was hot enough to melt cheese. In her shock Ginny almost missed one of the two chairs intended for visitors before her knees became weak and gave out.

"This can't possibly be real; it has to be doctored in some way." Her voice lost all of the passion from before and in its place was a meek imitation.

"I can assure you, it's very real. I don't print falsehoods, Weasley. My reputation is too important to me for me to take those chances." Zabini's voice sounded unusually sincere and almost comforting. His eyes, as he met hers, showed a warmth in them she would never have associated with the Slytherin. "Besides, the legal fees for defamation suits would be astronomical." And he was back to being smug.

"I just don't understand. Why would he do this to me? To us?" Ginny's voice was so faint, Zabini almost didn't hear it. So lost in her own heartbreak was the redhead that she didn't hear the commotion outside the door or see the rather burly security guards who had come to escort her from the building. Zabini, seeing the escorts, gave an imperceptible head shake and waved them away.

"Look, Weasley, I know this is difficult for you, but perhaps you should channel some of that considerable rage in a... more appropriate direction, like, say... at Potter."

"It's just, after all these years and all the times I waxed his hairy back, you'd think he would know better than to cheat on me with his best friend's girlfriend!" Ginny's heartbreaking speech slowly morphed into a passionate rant.

"And that Bitch," Ginny continued, "How dare she treat my brother this way?! When I'm through with her she'll wish that troll had knocked all that bushy brown hair into the toilet." Ginny was towering over Zabini again but this time the fire in her eyes was not directed at him, and was rather attractive.

"Perhaps, it's time for you to think about revenge," Zabini said, looking impossibly smug again.

Zabini's voice took some of the wind out of Ginny's sails and she was brought back to the very gut-wrenching present. Harry had cheated. Harry was cheating on her, and with Hermione. Her life was a lie.

She must have voiced that last thought as she collapsed into the visitor's chair again, because Zabini's voice startled her with their concern and sincerity.

"You have a life and it isn't a lie. You're a talented Chaser on a world-class Quidditch team. You have friends and family who love you and an arse you could bounce a galleon off. If Potter can't see what he has then he and the bookworm deserve each other."

"Is that galleon comment meant to put 'revenge' in the form of rebound sex, Zabini?"

"Not necessarily, but if you are thinking of going that route, then consider me a more than willing volunteer."

The look on his face sent blazing heat straight to her nether-regions. The last time Ginny had felt that way from just a look was years before at Hogwarts and involved another Slytherin boy. Was it a skill they were taught in the dungeons?

"Umm, well I'll keep that in mind." Ginny cleared her throat. Was it just her or was the room suddenly very hot.

"You do that. In the meantime, was there something else you wanted? I was about to order lunch, would you care to join me?"

"I really shouldn't but I will, only because I want to hear more about your ideas for revenge." With that, Ginny strutted from the office, leaving Blaise to hurry along in her wake.

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Over the next few months Ginny's life became surprisingly busy and enjoyable. Not only was she a star-Chaser winning matches but she was also a part-time columnist for the Daily Prophet. After writing a scathing, yet witty and humourous piece about Harry and Hermione's secret habits as her choice of revenge, Ginny was offered the post as Celebrity columnist. She could write about whatever she wanted but mostly stuck to Quidditch-related pieces. Barnabus Cuffe was so enamoured with the saucy redhead that she even had her own office in the building. This new setup also put her in close proximity with the Slytherin who started it all. He was surprising company and added the enjoyable factors to her new single life.

Yes, Ginny Weasley quickly became single after Zabini's article came out. Her brother also had a similar change in relationship status. Following the disgrace of The-Boy-Who-Lived and the Smartest-Witch-of-her-Age, the less popular member of the famed trio shot to super-stardom. Everyone wanted a piece of the ginger siblings. They became the poster-children of family values for simply being the victims in an unfortunate infidelity scandal.

To Ginny's surprise, her parents, particularly her mother, was in full support of her decision to break-up with Harry. She was even instrumental in helping her youngest children with finding a new flat, since both children formerly resided with their exes, and was borderline obsessive about finding them new loves. For all her efforts, Molly's attempts were less successful than her children's friendship-turned-romance with their new Slytherin friends.

Ginny's friendship with Zabini, BZ as she liked to call him, led to an unexpected romance between Ron and Pansy, Blaise's best female friend. In no time at all their friendship had blossomed into a full-blown romance leading to more than one instance of Ginny walking in on Ron and Pansy in various states of undress and every room of the flat.

Blaise and Ginny had kept their friendship completely platonic, although the tension between them was almost tangible. He came to he went to her matches, they frequently ate lunch together if they were both in the office, and spent quite a few evenings a week having dinner and watching films at the cinema. Their mutual love of Muggle films was just one of many things they had in common. Their similarities only made the tension worse. The light touches and hugs sent electricity shooting through her body like the lightning bolt that adorned Harry's head. They tried to ignore their obvious reaction to each other's company but their fake ignorance could only last so long. The sexual tension finally reached its breaking point when they got back from a particularly sensual foreign film.

They had arrived at Blaise's flat and Ginny was just snooping through his refrigerator looking for refreshments when she felt Blaise pressed extremely close to her bum. Startled, Ginny had rose up instinctively, closed the door to the refrigerator and found herself pressed against an incredibly aroused Blaise.

"BZ, what are you doing?" Ginny's voice was soft but the slight tremble was not lost on him.

"Tink, we've been dancing around this issue for months now. I'm sure you feel the attraction. Let's just stop fighting it. You know you want to; I know I do." His voice was deep and husky in her ear and the arm slowly snaking up her stomach and between her breasts was enough to ground her.

"B…," Ginny had started to say, but his other hand had started moving south, delving beneath her skirt and knickers to massage her slit.

"Shhh," was his only reply.

The hand between her breasts moved higher still until it had a slight grip in her throat. The hand beneath her skirt did not relinquish its assault on her clit and the dichotomy of the forceful grasp on her throat and the gentle caress on her pussy was overwhelming. When Blaise added his mouth and tongue to the pulse point of her neck, Ginny could take no more and an abrupt orgasm was pulled from her body.

Before she had a chance to recover Blaise had pressed her against the stainless steel doors of his refrigerator and had joined their bodies from behind. While the angle was awkward at first, the relief of finally expressing their attraction after months of dancing around each other was too much and he pounded into her with almost brutal force. The aggression was not unwelcome, however, and in short order, Ginny's first orgasm was joined by a much bigger explosion. Blaise followed soon after and feeling boneless they both slid to the floor to recover.

"Blaise, what does this mean for us now? Where does our friendship go from here?" Ginny asked, slightly hazy with exhaustion.

"It means Pansy won the bet. She and Ron have been making bets about when one of us would finally snap. I think I have to pay her five hundred galleons for cracking first."

That was more than fair, Ginny thought, since she'd won one hundred galleons off Ron for a similar bet where Pansy cracked first.

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_Thank you for reading. Please review!_


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